VALUE OF THE SALMON. 21 



But then " the mode is cruel." Denied, whether as 

 compared with the usual modes of killing fowls and 

 quadrupeds, or with the wholesale or trade modes of 

 capturing most Js:inds of fish. Keep in mind that all 

 animals do not feel as men feel, nor all animals alike, 

 and that fish are pretty nearly at the bottom of the 

 scale ; in brief, that Shakspeare's dogma about the equal 

 corporal sufierance of giants and beetles, and all such fine 

 sayings, may be sentimentally pretty, but are scientifi- 

 cally nonsensical. On the other hand, take the case of 

 fish killed in the way of trade and not of sport. No 

 young lady ever thinks of bringing against the fishermen 

 of Newhaven, CuUercotes, or Cowes, the charges of 

 cruelty she so savagely levels against her own brothers 

 or male friends, who are fishers ; but the cod or haddock 

 on which she regaled, before beginning the lamb (we lay 

 out of sight, for the moment, the possibility of her hav- 

 ing swallowed a few live oysters), suffered more than 

 ever did trout or salmon snared by angler, having pro- 

 bably been caught on the fisherman's set fine at twilight, 

 and been kept hanging there till morning. But (and 

 now we come to the last and lowest of sentimental re- 

 fuges) why not kiU your trout and salmon by net ? 

 Partly, because that mode would be more destructive 

 and merciless than the hook and line, and partly for 

 the same reason that the sea-fisherman does not take his 

 cod and haddock by net — because it cannot be done. 

 Let us be logical. Either the fish killed by anglers 

 could be killed by net, or they could not. In some 

 cases they could ; but in such cases the use of the net 

 would kill in greater numbers — would, in fact, extirpate, 



